GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS.

tenant-Governor of Massachusetts, had, it seemed,

181

private cor

at one period of the American disturbances, occa- 1773 sionally corresponded with Whately, the private Betrayal of secretary and confidential friend of Grenville. respondence. These letters, written by friends and gentlemen, entirely free from reserve, and naturally communicative upon the one topic of paramount interest, expressed opinions favorable to the assertion of its authority by the English Government. There can be no reasonable doubt that the letters were shown, and were intended to be shown, to Grenville and other persons of political mark in this country. Nor does it make any material difference, that, at the time when they bear date, neither the American nor the English statesmen were under the responsibility of political office; for though Grenville was only a private member of Parliament, he exercised that influence and authority which belong to a member of Parliament who has once guided its deliberations, and directed the Councils of the nation. Hutchinson, also, though only Chief Justice, was notoriously designated as the successor of Barnard in the government of Massachusetts. The opinions of a native colonist, highly reputed for ability, candour, and knowledge of his countrymen, could not fail to have great weight with English statesmen, imperfectly informed as to the real character and extent of the American commotion, and willing to uphold, if possible, the ascendancy of Great Britain.

It was then, and still is, the practice of the

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CONDUCT OF DR. FRANKLIN.

Ch. 18. American and West Indian Colonies to maintain

1773

implicated.

semi-diplomatic agencies in this country, partly Dr. Franklin, for commercial, and partly for political purposes. Franklin was at this time agent for Massachusetts. During his long residence in this country, Franklin had maintained a moderation on the subject of the dispute between the English Government and his countrymen, which might have been expected from advanced years, large experience, and a mind elevated far beyond the vocation of a mere demagogue. He never denied the right of England to legislate for her colonies; for a long time he only questioned, in a guarded and qualified manner, the power of taxation; and he always asserted that the object of his countrymen was limited to a redress of grievances, strictly consistent with their allegiance to the British Crown. He censured, in common with most of the Whig party in Parliament, the introduction of a military force into Boston in 1769, and according to his own account, had attributed that measure to the ill-advised energy of the Home Government, until he was assured that it had been adopted in deference to the urgent remonstrances of some of the leading persons in the colony which he represented. The individual from whom Franklin obtained this information not only showed him the original letters on which the Government had acted, but allowed him to obtain possession of them, on the futile conditions that they should not be printed, that no copies should be taken, that they should be

COMMITTEE AT BOSTON.

183

shown only to a few leading people, and that they Ch. 18. should be carefully returned.

1773

These were the letters which had been ad- Letters to Whately. dressed to Whately, during the years 1767-8-9, by Hutchinson and Oliver. How this correspondence came into the possession of Franklin is to this day unexplained. (All that Franklin himself

ever disclosed was, that he obtained it from a member of Parliament. Whately had died in 1772. His papers, of course, became the property of his personal representative, a brother, who had never examined them. The person who communicated them to Franklin had, therefore, no right to their possession; nor was Franklin justified by any law of honour or honesty, either in reading these papers, or receiving them into his custody. It has been suggested that Franklin's story was an unfounded slander on the character of an English member of Parliament, and that he stole the papers himself. Such may have been the fact; but this is certain, that if Franklin was not himself the thief, according to his own showing, he must have received the papers, knowing

them to have been stolen.

in the

The letters were forthwith forwarded to the Excitement Committee of Correspondence, an association of colonies. the leading patriots at Boston, which had been formed in the autumn of the preceding year for the purpose of regular communication with the other colonies, and organizing the opposition to the English Government. This committee, which

184

Ch. 18.

1773

MISCHIEVOUS PUBLICATION

consisted of twenty-one members, were duly restricted, in accordance with the terms upon which the papers were said to have been received, from printing them, or allowing them to pass into general circulation. But it hardly required Franklin's great sense and deep knowledge of mankind to foresee that such a prohibition must be idle and illusory. One or two magnanimous patriots might perchance be found, who would decline to achieve the freedom of their country by questionable means; but that a score of zealots should refrain, in the very crisis of their cause, from a slight transgression, which would all but render it triumphant -was contrary to all experience of history and of human nature. The papers soon after their arrival were laid before the Colonial Assembly, which readily found a pretext for ordering them to be printed.

The selection of letters-for they had evidently been carefully selected - thirteen only in number, contained matter enough to inflame the excited passions of the people. It was confidently asserted in these papers, that the maintenance of the authority of the Crown was wholly incompatible with the continuance of free institutions in the Colony; and the Colonists themselves were pronounced unfit for the same degree of liberty which was accorded to the people of the parent state. Government was advised to put down the agitation for independence by military force; and there were even some phrases so ambiguously

OF PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE.

185

used, that by no very violent construction, they Ch. 18. seemed to recommend the removal of the popular 1773

leaders by sinister means.

Houses of

Resolutions were immediately passed by the Resolutions of House of Assembly, expressive of the strongest Assembly. indignation against Hutchinson and Oliver, and adopting a petition to the King' that they might be removed from the Government of the Colony.' The Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, on the other side, prayed to be heard by counsel in vindication of their conduct, and both petitions were referred to the Privy Council.

A more ill-advised measure could hardly have Reference to the Privy been taken. There should have been no reasonable Council. doubt as to the course which ought to have been pursued. After the disclosure which had taken place (it mattered not by what means) Hutchinson and Oliver should have been removed from their posts. Any hesitation to take this step could not fail to be interpreted as an adoption on the part of the Crown of the extreme opinions and arbitrary counsels of its representatives in the Colony. And even if such views had happened to coincide with those of the English Government, as in the main they did, the premature avowal of them was in the last degree impolitic and indiscreet. In any case, the reference of the matter to the Privy Council was

without any apparent object.

The authorship of

the letters being admitted, the only question was, whether persons who had committed themselves